Targets on non-communicable diseases need to be part of new millennium goals being designed for 2015

Organisations working to combat non-communicable diseases worldwide say that the timetable for developing crucial targets “cannot afford to slip.”

Judith Watt, interim director of the Non-Communicable Disease Alliance, which represents non-governmental organisations and other civil groups, said it was vital that the World Health Organization fulfil its commitments this year to recommending voluntary global targets for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

“We were calling for targets to be agreed at the UN summit on NCDs [non-communicable diseases] in September 2011 [BMJ 2011;343:d6034, doi:10.1136/bmj.d6034], but that didn’t happen. We can’t afford another delay,” she said.

In an interview with the BMJ Ms Watt said that agreement needed to be reached by the end …